


oversize heater

by catpoop



Series: Sheith Month 2017 [13]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Animalistic Traits, Cuddling, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M, SheithMonth2k17, shiro is weirded Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 12:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11920710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catpoop/pseuds/catpoop
Summary: Sheith Month '17 - 19/8: GalraShiro's weird human friend is ... just that, right?Human?





	oversize heater

**Author's Note:**

> o hey another small offering  
> ty if you've been reading all the fics in the series :3c

It doesn’t take long for Shiro to realise there’s something _off_ about his new roommate. But by then, he’d already initiated a tentative friendship with the reclusive kid – partly to show him around, and partly because of the way Keith had gobbled down the cookies he’d offered in a gesture of goodwill. 

It would’ve been hard to get rid of him after that, even if he wanted to.

They come to an agreement to walk down to breakfast daily, though it takes more than a little coaxing on Shiro’s part to wake him up. 

“Keith,” Shiro addresses the unmoving lump in the bed opposite his. “Keith – wake up, or you’ll miss out on breakfast.” Keith seems to perk up a little at the mention of food, despite his eyelids continuing to droop.

“I always miss breakfast,” he grumbles. That would explain the cookies.

And case in point: the first of several strange … tendencies.

Shiro doesn’t share many classes with Keith, but in those he does, it’s always to see Keith conked out face-first, mop of black hair spread across his desk. His first days at school and he’s already making a stellar impression on the teachers. Sighing, Shiro ambles over at the end of class to shake him awake.

“Why are you so tired all the time?” Shiro frowns, and Keith smacks his lips tiredly in response.

“S’nice. I like sleeping.”

Shiro despairs for his education.

And, well, he likes sleeping, but apparently not enough to stay still at night. Shiro hears the sheets ruffle, then the pad of tentative footsteps around the room, _then_ the sudden rush of wind as Keith opens the window wide. 

Shiro blearily pulls himself out of bed to hear the sound of claws clacking down the drainpipe. “Keith –” He peers out of the window to see a dark blur leap from the side of their building and streak into the nearby bushes. “Keith – what the _fuck_.”

Shiro chalks it up to his imagination the next morning, until he spots a stray leaf in the middle of the room.

“ _Keith_ …”

Keith has no reply for him.

And speaking of claws, the first time Keith’s hands so much as enters Shiro’s personal space, he flinches in near terror. “What the _fuck_ , did you just cut me?”

No, but those weapons masquerading as nails did leave deep indents in his skin.

“No.” Keith looks wounded. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Shiro grabs hold of an offending finger, studying the scarily pointed edge of his nail. “Can’t you cut these or something?”

“Huh?” Keith cocks his head in confusion.

“Y’know,” Shiro gesticulates in further confusion, “Trim them? So they’re not as sharp?”

“Why would I do that?” 

“Because – Because –” Shiro breaks off in exasperation, “Have you not cut your nails for what –? Sixteen, seventeen years?”

“Sixteen.”

Great. Three days in and he has to deal with this … feral child by himself. “It’s not safe for your nails to be this sharp.”

“Oh.”

Surprisingly, Keith doesn’t put up too much of a fight when Shiro fishes out the nail clippers and pulls one hand into his lap then the other (no one ends up injured). Keith winces with every sharp snick of metal.

“There.” Shiro studies his handiwork. “Now you won’t accidentally gouge anyone’s eyes out.”

Keith sniffles. “Are you done?”

“Yes.”

\-----

Shiro balks when, barely a week later, Keith’s nails have returned to their unnaturally-pointed state. He carefully unhooks Keith’s fingers from his sweater, wary of the snagged loop of yarn.

“I’ll – I’ll take care of them later.”

\-----

As the days pass, Shiro quickly realises Keith has yet to make a single friend, with the exception of himself. Maybe it’s due to his general inactivity. Shiro glances over to see Keith curled up, basking in the afternoon rays instead of attempting to work on his homework, or go out, or –

Shiro is wrenched from his thoughts by a strange sound, a subtle background hum that he swears wasn’t there before.

“Hey, can you hear –”

He stares at Keith’s silent form. Well, not entirely silent – he wheels his chair closer, ears twitching at the odd rumbling noise that seems to be originating from his prone roommate.

“Keith?” Shiro whispers, brow furrowing in concern. “Are you …”

“Mrr…”

_Purring?_

He backs away warily, fumbling for his tablet and confirming that, okay, humans can’t purr, and unless Keith is just pissing with him – there’s something strange going on.

Keith wakes up with a bone-creaking stretch, face distorted in a wide yawn as he squirms on the bed, eyeing the clock and Shiro sat at his desk.

“Mornin’.” It’s late afternoon.

Shiro turns to stare at him. “Oh. You’re awake. Now – and don’t take this badly – but are you definitely, a-hundred-percent, human?”

Keith falters in front of him like a buffering video. “Uh – Uh. I – what? No I don’t. I mean, I’m human. Yeah.”

Shiro squints. “Okay. Okay, sure.”

\-----

Half a year later, and Shiro is still perplexed. He runs a hand through the soft downy hair splayed across his arm, sighing at his slowly numbing limbs and Keith’s indistinct purring.

Keith never gave him a straight answer, but Shiro’s figured enough to realise that his roommate and now-friend isn’t exactly _normal_. 

They’ve gotten the sleep problem under control now (Keith crawls into his bed at night instead of out the window), and the nails (claws?). And the clinginess – still a work in progress. 

He’ll have to ask Keith for the whole truth one day, Shiro supposes, but for now, it’s easier to bask in their combined warmth and the way Keith rumbles like an engine beside him.

**Author's Note:**

> ok i promise ill put more effort into the next fic...  
> thanks for reading  
> comments r super-appreciated :)
> 
> @swummeng-geys.tumblr.com  
> twitter: @hashtag_yikes


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